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Tackling the Ageing Syndrome

The Challenge

As populations age in many countries all over the world, fewer prime-aged people will be there to care for more of the elderly. Increasing pension and medical care expenditures will raise governments’ (or families’) financial burden. Higher taxation on earned income to cope with the increased financial burden runs the risk of impairing incentives to work and the willingness to learn and qualify for life.

Thus policy makers must tackle a three-pronged syndrome: pension systems, health care and employment for all. We cannot design a pension system without reference to the health care costs and to the overall employment conditions; nor can we design a health care system or regulations on labor markets without taking their influenced on financing pensions into account.

What joint reforms of pension, health and employment systems would enable ageing societies to maintain (or even increase) the living standards of all? How is the effectiveness of these systems interconnected? Should these systems encourage the elderly to prolong their working lives and how should they do it? How can they also motivate the working-age population to work and acquire skills? What organizational and management innovations can help integrate elderly workers in employment? What are the means to encourage life-long learning?

Proposals

The social and economic consequences of population ageing have emerged in several countries, where demographic trends affect public finances, social security systems, labour markets and financial syst ...

The social and economic consequences of population ageing have emerged in several countries, where demographic trends affect public finances, social security systems, labour markets and financial systems. While reforms have been implemented, further adjustments are needed in pension systems, employment policies and health and long‑term care arrangements. A key feature of successful responses to ageing is multi‑dimensionality. Actions should focus on both pension provision and labour supply and should be coordinated, in order to be effective as well as socially and financially sustainable. I agree on the policy priorities outlined in the GES Team’s introductory document, which

The Scandinavian model Is there a Scandinavian model? International comparisons of political and economic conditions provide important information about the institutional conditions that create the be ...

The Scandinavian model Is there a Scandinavian model? International comparisons of political and economic conditions provide important information about the institutional conditions that create the best opportunities for achieving economic policy goals. But such comparisons are understandably a sensitive matter, given differences in goals and values as well as historical conditions. The values and the social goals manifested in how the Scandinavian countries – perhaps Sweden in particular – have chosen to organise society and weigh income distribution policy goals against the need for efficiency and flexibility have elicited considerable reactions and interest. There is often talk of a

“Solutions” for the Global Economic Symposium in Plön, Germany 04. September 2008 David A. Wise Stambaugh Professor of Political Economy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University ...

“Solutions” for the Global Economic Symposium in Plön, Germany 04. September 2008 David A. Wise Stambaugh Professor of Political Economy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and Area Director Programs of Aging and Health Care National Bureau of Economic Research I won’t emphasize specific solutions, but rather emphasize a key component of economic accommodation to changing demographic trends. Older persons will have to spend longer in the labor force and public and private policies will need to facilitate prolonged labor force participation. In this note, I set out the reasoning behind this view. Persons are living longer and

Thoughts and solutions for the Global Economic Symposium in Plön, Germany Axel Börsch-Supan Director, Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA) 04. September 2008 The extent of th ...

Thoughts and solutions for the Global Economic Symposium in Plön, Germany Axel Börsch-Supan Director, Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA) 04. September 2008 The extent of the demographic changes in Europe is dramatic and will deeply affect future labor, financial and goods markets. The expected strain on public budgets and especially social security has already received prominent attention, but aging poses many other economic challenges that threaten growth and living standards if they remain unaddressed. There is no shortage of “solutions”. Almost every reputable economist with interest in actual policy has published reform proposals to address

Increasing labor supply in the developed economies - Nearly all advanced economies face shrinking labor forces in the coming decades - Attracting more women o Women entering the workforce was a maj ...

Increasing labor supply in the developed economies - Nearly all advanced economies face shrinking labor forces in the coming decades - Attracting more women o Women entering the workforce was a major source of new talent that fueled labor force growth in the U.S. over the last half of the 20th Century. That trend is nearly over. - Attracting more older workers o Restructuring retirement incentives in our pensions o Working around the productivity puzzle created by seniority systems o Flexibility in the structuring of jobs and utilization of the older people who fill them o Men throughout the advanced

1. Demography and costs One of the major political challenges in the next few decades is how to finance the welfare systems in view of the demographic changes ahead. When the proportion of elderly in ...

1. Demography and costs One of the major political challenges in the next few decades is how to finance the welfare systems in view of the demographic changes ahead. When the proportion of elderly in the population rises, the need for welfare services grows at the same time as the dependency ratio increases. This situation is exacerbated by the increased demand for welfare services that tends to accompany rising incomes and by the limited potential for productivity gains in the production of many welfare services. Sweden is not unique here. Many countries face similar problems. The demographic changes will

Population ageing becomes a pervasive phenomenon not only in the developed world but also in most of the developing societies. UN expects that the old-age dependency ratio would roughly double to 33 p ...

Population ageing becomes a pervasive phenomenon not only in the developed world but also in most of the developing societies. UN expects that the old-age dependency ratio would roughly double to 33 percent from 2005 to 2025 in the more developed regions and amount to 13 percent in the less developed regions. The long-lasting developing trend of longevity is expected to have strong impacts on the economic growth in a basically unchanged institutional environment. Under current pension systems and with no changes in present work and retirement patterns, population ageing would increase the pressure on public finance. This, in

How to tackle the interrelated problems of pension systems, health care and employment? To analyse this problem and to suggest policy actions, let us start with a discussion of the pension system and ...

How to tackle the interrelated problems of pension systems, health care and employment? To analyse this problem and to suggest policy actions, let us start with a discussion of the pension system and the health care problems from an ageing perspective. Pension system The problem to the pension system is largely a demographic issue; People live much longer than before, which increases the proportion of elderly in the population. But elderly people are today biologically much younger than just a few decades ago. There are studies revealing that people’s biological age today in several western countries tends to be 10

Related Challenges

It is widely accepted that the ageing population poses cost challenges for society. Increased longevity raises the health care and other costs of supporting the old precisely when labor forces in many ...

It is widely accepted that the ageing population poses cost challenges for society. Increased longevity raises the health care and other costs of supporting the old precisely when labor forces in many countries are shrinking or growing more slowly than in the past. Much of the debate on how to handle these problems has focused on either scaling back benefits or somehow increasing the degree of preparedness to pay these costs through more savings today. Yet both options have proved difficult to advance.

Bureau of European Policy Advisers (BEPA) Session
The key socioeconomic trend in many parts of the world—including China, Europe and the United States—is an ageing society. This trend is driven i ...

Bureau of European Policy Advisers (BEPA) Session

The key socioeconomic trend in many parts of the world—including China, Europe and the United States—is an ageing society. This trend is driven in part by lower fertility but mainly by higher longevity. This means that growing old age dependency—the ratio of older retired people to younger working people—will not disappear with the passing of the baby boom generation: indeed, it will keep increasing.

People are living longer, more active and more fulfilling lives. But those additional years mean additional costs as pensions are drawn for longer periods and the costs of surgery, medication, healt ...

People are living longer, more active and more fulfilling lives. But those additional years mean additional costs as pensions are drawn for longer periods and the costs of surgery, medication, healthcare and nursing care continue to soar. So the flipside of the scientific triumph over illness and disease is that many people do not have adequate financial resources to support their longer lives with the desired level of comfort.